Squire Technologies has signed a full building lease at 216 Bowery, a boutique office redevelopment. The software company will occupy 2,055 square feet of ground floor retail space and 8,074 square feet of office space, and it will serve as the new headquarters office of Squire Technologies.

The building ownership recently completed a complete renovation at 216 Bowery. The upgrades included enlarged windows, adding a second story with elevators and stairs and a large mansard skylight with operable vents on the fifth floor. The ownership also completed a historical restoration of the original Brownstone façade, and it added a roof terrace overlooking Bowery. Additional building features include a new security access control system, new bathrooms, column-free floor plates, exposed ceilings and maple hardwood floors throughout.

New York City’s office sector was among the most impacted markets in the country by the pandemic. As people stayed indoors, office demand shrank and some companies even left the market altogether. In the summer research from Colliers International showed that office leasing activity in the market had plummeted to a 20-year low.

Since, the market has rapidly rebounded. In the third quarter, office leasing activity had its best quarter since the beginning of the year. Third-quarter Manhattan leasing totaled 5.88 million square feet, up 70% from Q2 2021. However, the Q3 total was still 5% below the five-year quarterly average of 6.16 million square feet.

Investors have also returned to the market.

In August, for example, office owner LeFrak completed five lease transactions totaling 100,000 square feet at 40 West 57th Street in New York City’s Plaza District. In the largest transaction, Givaudan signed a 50,000-square-foot renewal for the 10th and 11th floors of the building. The lease has a 15-year term. In the remaining transactions, A&E Real Estate signed a 10-year deal for 17,525 square feet, Lightyear Capital took 13,500 square feet in a10-year lease and Darsana Capital signed a 11,500 square-foot lease deal.

On the Squire Technologies transaction, Cushman & Wakefield’s David Hoffman and Sam Hoffman represented the tenant, while Ethan Silverstein, Greg Kuhlman, Caroline Collins, Steve Soutendijk, Chris Schwart and Sean Moran, also of Cushman & Wakefield, represented the landlord.